(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on Thursday addressed his ties to Global Communities, a left-wing non-profit that allegedly received millions of taxpayer dollars through USAID, the now defunct federal agency.
In a statement, Raskin claimed he has no personal connections to Global Communities besides representing the district in which the non-profit is located. Critics, including Elon Musk, noted that Global Communities received $160 million in taxpayer funds and others implied that Raskin is involved in it.
The allegations stemmed from a post by an X user named “Mila Joy,” asserting Raskin was “the representative for Global Communities, a giant USAID contractor that raked in $160,000,000 in 2023.”
Musk reacted to the post, which has garnered over nine million views, and said that government funding to so-called non-governmental organizations “goes through various money-laundering shell companies until reaching guys like Raskin.”
Many such situations.
Government funding to “non-governmental” organizations goes through various money-laundering shell companies until reaching guys like Raskin. https://t.co/8ywK1Wp2RY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2025
Raskin countered these accusations, asking Musk, “Are you seriously this detached from reality?”
He added, “You accuse me of corruption for being the ‘representative’ for Global Communities. What?! I ‘represent’ Global Communities only in the sense that their office is domiciled in my District, along with 800,000 people and thousands of businesses and 501(c)(3) nonprofit groups.”
The Democratic lawmaker said there is “no other relationship with Global Communities.”
Elon Musk Fact-Checked by his own AI platform Grok! What an embarrassment this “genius” is.
For my full statement and questions posed to Mr. Musk, see below. https://t.co/8S6umluZgC pic.twitter.com/2NJNZv1JA7
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) February 27, 2025
Raskin also denounced the viral post, affirming that it “lacks factual backing and smells like a conspiracy theory cooked up to farm engagement on X.”
He said the post “twists his district’s tie to a legit US aid contractor, Global Communities, into a baseless claim of personal enrichment, with no evidence like financial records or investigations—to support it. It’s more rage bait than reality.”
Global Communities proudly touted its ties with USAID on its website. In addition to the $160 million in grants from the federal government, the non-profit has secured over $22 million in non-federal grants.
The organization is led by Carrie Hessler-Radelet, an Obama appointee who served as the head of the Peace Corps from June 5, 2014, to Jan. 20, 2017.
Headline USA reached out to Hessler-Radelet for comment on the funding, but she forwarded the call to voicemail. A follow-up email was sent to her and Global Communities spokesperson Jane Gotiangco, but no response was received.
